DARPA selects Rockwell Collins to develop prototype for next gen SDRs

Aerospace & Defense

Rockwell Collins has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a direct conversion digital receiver based on photonic technology. The three-year contract for the DISARMER program is valued up to $8.5 million.

Radio frequency (RF) sensor systems on the modern battlefield must cover many RF and microwave bands, and deliver accurately processed information. Rockwell Collins seeks to apply the photonic analog to digital converter (ADC) technology developed under the recently completed DARPA RADER program to create a digital receiver that can accommodate X-band frequencies.

“This technology will provide the Department of Defense with the networking capability that it has been seeking for the last decade to assure spectrum superiority on the battlefield,” said John Borghese, vice president of the Rockwell Collins Advanced Technology Center. “Our overall goal is to develop a first-of-its-kind radio to digitize signals at higher frequencies and with more resolution than ever before, allowing a much quicker assessment of threats.”

A single DISARMER digital receiver may replace multiple pieces of equipment, enable field reconfiguration and reduce the size, weight, power and cost of both military and commercial radio systems.